How to Fix Laptop won’t Detect the Second Monitor

Laptops are very versatile and portable computers. You can carry them around and work anywhere with ease with some basic facilities like internet and a power source. Well, in this modern world, computers have become a very basic tool for people to work efficiently and laptops have been an advantage and provide users with the option to work from anywhere. Well, this portable machine comes with its own disadvantages. One of the biggest disadvantages is the screen size is small and cannot be very well suited for some users, so to compensate for the issue, people go far a second monitor and connect the laptop with a bigger screen to work efficiently. Recently, some users have reported an issue that disables them from using a second monitor on their laptops. So, users who usually use dual monitors will face difficulties with performing well. And this issue needs to be resolved.

Issues on Windows OS are pretty common. And with the recent release of Windows 11 OS, Microsoft is a bit busy with setting up the OS and improving it. With this, there are some basic issues on the computer and users have to take care of these issues. Well, Windows has some good features to resolve issues.

If you have been facing issues with connecting your second monitor to your Windows laptop, you can follow the methods mentioned in this article. The recent issue is that laptops won’t detect the second monitor. There are many reasons, for this to happen. so, pinpointing a particular one for the cause is not possible and the only thing you can do is try the methods and check whether the issue is resolved. Here in this article, you will find several fixes, but only one or two will work for you depending on the cause of the issue on your laptop.

Table of Contents

Methods to Fix Laptop won’t Detect a Second Monitor issue on Windows

Well, fixing the issue might not be a difficult thing and all the methods mentioned below are pretty easy to follow and you can try out these methods and fix the issue with ease.

Method 1: Check the Display Settings on your laptop

Open the Settings application by pressing the Windows key and the I key on the keyboard.
Here, go to the display settings.
Here, select the option multiple displays.
Now, press the detect option to check for the external monitor.
Now, if the monitor that is connected to the device is detected, you can select it and use it as a second monitor by using the correct video port.

Method 2: Run The Dedicated Troubleshooter

Click on the start button and open the control panel.
Here, select the option troubleshooting.
Now, click on the hardware and Devices option.
Now, click run troubleshooter.

Troubleshooting the hardware and devices will look for issues with the feature and will resolve the issue if the hardware and devices have an issue.

Method 3: Update The Drivers

Running an old driver software can cause issues, so try updating the driver and resolving the issue.

Open settings application.
Here, go to updates and security settings.
Now, click on check for updates.
Then update the device and all the new updates will be downloaded.

If you don’t want to update your computer, you can try updating only the driver software.

Go to the search bar. Here search for Device Manager.
Now, in the Device Manager, select the device and right-click on it.
Here from the menu, select the option update driver software.
In the update wizard, select the option, search automatically for drivers.
Now, once you are done with the update, you can try to connect to the second monitor on your laptop.

Check for Loose Connections or faulty Cable

If you are using a monitor connected through an HDMI or VGA cable, try checking whether the cable is not faulty and is properly connected to the monitor and the output socket on your laptop. Well, sometimes a loose connection might cause an issue with detecting the monitor on your laptop.

Check For the Hardware Changes

Open the device manager and here, look for the driver that connects the second monitor to the laptop and then click on scan for hardware changes.
This will check for any hardware changes and will connect to the monitor.

Run The Drivers in Compatibility Mode

Compatibility issues can cause your system to not detect the monitor, so, running the drivers on compatibility mode will help fix the issue.

Download the related driver files from the internet.
Save it on a local disk.
Right-click on the saved driver and then go to properties.
Now, select the option Run this program in compatibility mode.
Select the OS that you prefer.
Now, install the driver.
This will help, you run the driver in compatibility mode.
Restart the computer and check for display on the second monitor.

Well, these are some of the simplest methods to fix the laptop that won’t detect a second monitor issue. These fixes will certainly work unless the monitor is dead. So, it is better that you check the monitor whether it boots up or not before trying these methods.

Hope the information provided above was helpful and informative. You can now easily fix the laptop won’t detect a second monitor issue on your Windows computer.